State officials hope for smoother redistricting process

Posted: Monday, July 30, 2001

By Kevin Connerkconner@onlineathens.com

Given the shuffling of Georgia's U.S. congressional districts in the 1990s, some are hoping the Georgia General Assembly will draw new districts that last awhile when the legislature meets this week to begin the redistricting process.

Georgia legislators will meet Wednesday to begin drawing state legislative districts and will later meet in a separate session for U.S. congressional redistricting.

The U.S. Constitution requires new congressional districts to be drawn after census figures are released every 10 years. Some representatives hope the new districts will last 10 years -- unlike the last reapportionment go-around. The redistricting made after the 1990 census led to a court battle and ultimately a second redistricting.

''I'm hoping it won't take that long this time, but who knows,'' said state Rep. Louise McBee, D-Athens, who entered the House in 1991, just in time for the four-year redistricting struggle.

''I think it's going to be a very disagreeable time,'' she said. ''People feel very strongly about their territory. And then there's always the party lines that figure in heavily. They're going to try to protect their turf and gain additional seats. That's just part of the game.''

In 1991, the General Assembly drew U.S. congressional lines intended to create three majority-black districts. Those districts, which went into effect in 1992, were challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1995.

The court found the districts were racially gerrymandered. It ruled that race can have some influence on the drawing of districts, but can't be the predominant influence.

In 1995, the legislature met to redraw the districts based on the Supreme Court ruling, but it couldn't reach an agreement. That threw the issue to a panel of three federal judges.

''It was frustrating and we spent a lot of time waiting while they were redoing maps,'' said McBee. ''We will have an advantage this time. The computers are so sophisticated this time around and it can get done much more quickly.''

While the redistricting battle was going on, Athens was represented in Congress by U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Evans. When the new districts became effective in 1996, Athens was moved from Norwood's district to the 11th Congressional District represented by John Linder, a Tucker Republican whose district stretches from Gwinnett County to the South Carolina line.

In the upcoming session, state Rep. Ralph Hudgens, R-Hull, who is on the House reapportionment committee, believes Athens will likely get switched from Linder's district back to Norwood's.

Hudgens also feels there will be some stability in maintaining that district for the next 10 years because elected officials have a clearer understanding of the law regarding the influence of race in redrawing districts.

''I don't think we'll get moved out again,'' he said.

Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, said, ''My expectation is that they won't be changed in mid-course.''

The state legislative districts -- who represents whom in the state House of Representatives and state Senate -- could be a different story, Hudgens said. He feels Democrats will likely package districts with strongly Republican voting patterns into slightly more populous districts than those with mostly Democratic voters.

Concentrating Republicans into larger districts would mean they get fewer districts and fewer representatives overall. The move would help the Democrat-controlled General Assembly to maintain more Democratic districts and, subsequently, more Democratic representation.

Hudgens feels there will be partisan battles during legislative redistricting that could end up with the district lines challenged in court.

''This is just playing games. The Democrats are doing anything they can to maintain power. They're just panicking trying to do anything,'' he said.

This article published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Monday, July 30, 2001.